Web5 – The True Decentralized Internet?

The Decentralized Web

In line with the general shift towards decentralization in the crypto market, the Internet as a whole is also gearing up for the age of decentralization. Nonetheless, the twin pillars of transparency and anonymity of Web3 are not particularly congruent with each other. Hence Jack Dorsey has come up with the idea of a Decentralized Web Platform (DWP) which operates using Web5.

With this, let’s dive into what Web5 is all about:

????Web5 as the Extra Decentralized Web

Web5 is an extra decentralized version of the Internet. The central tenet of Web5 is that it would facilitate the shift from the use of Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) (a standard for installable web apps that is implemented in all major browsers today) to Decentralized Web Apps (DWAs) which would be using Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) and Decentralized Web Nodes (DWNs) to return ownership and control over identity and data to individuals.

Web5’s Shift from PWA to DWA (Source: TBD)

????Web5 as the True Decentralized Web

Web5’s unique value proposition (UVP) is that it departs from Web3’s use of third party middlemen-controlled identifiers. Jack Dorsey has suggested that notwithstanding its much touted ideals of decentralization and user autonomy, Web3 is still subject to the centralized control of venture capitalists and liquidity providers.

Jack Dorsey’s Comments on Web3 (Source: Twitter.com@Jack)

????Web5 as a Distributed P2P Network

Web5 operates through a P2P network of users who are connected through a distributed network of DWNs. As the users of the network would be running the DWNs themselves on their computer or device this allows Web5 to be truly decentralized as users can share, pass and identify information without going through any third-party middlemen, much less centralized ones.

Web5 DWNs (Source: TBD)

Although Jack Dorsey’s blueprint for Web5 includes DIDs and verifiable credentials, these elements are not unique to Web5 as they are already present in Web3. We will be discussing more about this in our next post.